Mars scientists settle in for high-science

'The thrill is not gone'

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PASADENA, California (CNN) -- After several days of surprises
and joy at their technological success, the Mars Pathfinder
mission team shifted gears and settled Wednesday into savoring the details of
high-science.

At their daily news conference at the Jet Propulsion
Laboratory Wednesday, three mission scientists discussed in
great detail and with obvious relish the composition of a
single rock and their plans for analyzing others.

While the discussion was animated and articulate, it was not
the sort of thing that makes headlines, and eventually a
reporter asked if perhaps the scientists had "come down from
your high?"

The discovery that the rock known as Barnacle Bill appears to be composed of the same material, rather than an aggregate of several rock fragments.

Dr. Jeff Johnson of the U.S. Geological Survey said unless the rock later proves to be composed of especially fine particles, its composition "gives credence to a volcanic hypothesis."

In other words, it could have been created by a volcano.

The Sojourner rover successfully "crabbed" sideways to reposition itself near a rock called Yogi. It took photos of Yogi from its front and rear cameras, took some photos of the lander, then was left overnight with its alpha proton X-ray spectrometer buried in the Martian soil like an electronic aardvark to collect data.

Among the features were a modest arroyo that appeared to
contain wind-blown sand, a low hill that proved to be the
edge of a crater several miles away and, on the horizon, a
faint, conical peak believed to be about 1,900 feet (576
meters) high.

Project scientist Matthew Golombek said the crater was not a
volcanic crater, but an "impact" crater from a meteorite.

It was also revealed that several reporters had seen the
panorama in color on high density television while wearing
3-D glasses, and found the view to be stunning.

When the Sojourner rover is done with its analysis of the
rock known as Yogi and its environs, Golombek said it will
move on to other rocks. Two that particularly interest the
team have been called Scooby Doo and Casper.

"They appear to be white, to our amazement," Golombek said.
"Any white rock is of tremendous interest because it implies
differentiation of product. Whether they are volcanic or
sedimentary, they are of tremendous interest."

Golombek also said the Hubble Telescope will be taking
pictures of Mars over the next three days, and the photos
will be compared with those taken from the planet's surface.

Golombek said the hope is that they will be able to resolve
why, from space, Mars' atmosphere appears to
be clear, but from the planet's surface "we find it dusty."

Asked when pictures of Earth might be taken, Smith said,
"Earth is not well-positioned to take what we want to take.
Maybe in a week or so."